All Christians

Jeremy asked me to share my perspective of the Covid-19 pandemic as an immunocompromised individual. I have a disability due to a neurodegenerative disease called Multiple Sclerosis. And while I did want to share my perspective, I wasn’t ready. In fact, I wasn’t ready until someone called me recently on the phone. A friend who is both older as well as being medically fragile.

[Read more…] about Love The Vulnerable Around You

At first look of the title, you would think this follow up book to a previous book we reviewed, Dreamland, is a Christian-based book. It’s not. Yet, we are reviewing it here because of the direct application it has on lives within the United States and surrounding countries that the Church can have a direct impact in. Further, it is interesting that this has great current social commentary on the impact and also dichotomy western Christians have with regards to substance misuse and those struggling with addictions.

The book itself follows up the previous book that addresses the Opiate Epidemic and now is talking about the surge in Methamphetamines and Fentanyl. There are comments on how we are allowing ourselves to struggle with dependency on things such as sugar, being lethargic to our obligations as humanity and our Christian faith to be socially connected and looking out for one another, and the startling impact that these substances is having on individuals, families, and communities.

But it is the story of the woman who because of her renewed faith adopts not only a child but the cognitively-disabled mother who developed brain damage due to substances that spurred me to share this book. It is the old lady who did not know what methamphetamines were nor how to properly work with individuals struggling with the drug, yet gave food to those who needed it, opened their church, and changed the hearts in the community that gave me a conviction and new passion to share Jesus to the least of these. And it is the challenge that this author, a professed atheist, who fully summarized the compassionate heart of Jesus to serve our neighbors and love them as He loved us.

This book does not offer a theological debate on the weight of repeated sin or how best to help someone who will for years struggle with cravings, relapse, and guilt to repent of that sin. It does not even go into the solutions of treatment options or debate what is effective or right for care for individuals struggling with substance misuse. But it is this simple commentary that I think actually made the end comments specifically directed as Christians and those who could give more compassion a spotlight to do something because people are dying and communities are being destroyed.

If you work in mental health or substance misuse therapy fields or are part of a church that has any outreach to your community for helping widows, orphans, homeless, and those who struggle with mental health, I strongly recommend you pick this book up and open your eyes to some of the concerns around us. I give this book a 5 out of 5.

We’ve talked about Christian mindfulness on the blog here as well as elsewhere and have a place to see everything we have talked about here along with other resources on the subject. Below, we want to address not only mindfulness with regards to the Christian faith, but also spiritual growth with our relationship with God as well as our investment with Scripture.

If you want to see more videos like the one below, go check out our YouTube channel here.

The Other Half of Church is at it’s core a book by a pastor who had a surprise relationship with a Christian neuroscientist that helped the pastor look at how they see relationships. It talks about the sanctity of God and its impact of the salvation of man as well as how neuron pathways impact brain functioning and development. While the book does not specifically label treatment modalities, the book functions within the clinical modalities of Attachment Theory and Family Systems Theory.

This is one of those book recommendations that I did not see coming. In looking for books to read, I inquire on our Instagram stories, directly ask Christian counselors, or look up what authors I have loved before recommend or have just recently published. This book was recommended to me by my pastor while they were preaching from the pulpit. Mind you, I have a great relationship with the pastors of my church and talk frequently about mental health and faith. And at it’s essence, the book hits strong points about discipleship that pastors really need to consider.

I applaud their ability to so easily stay in both worlds as it is not an easy task, even in a simple conversation between two colleagues let alone a whole book on the subject. I do not have any issues with the core theology of what is being presented and agreed this can integrate easily into one’s own faith as well as leadership for pastors.

A couple of critics to this book that do not take away from the book. I have no doubt many pastors do not like when science is discussed with regards to theology, many pastors believing this becomes centered around man instead of a conversation of integration. This was not discussed in the book at all and while I think it’s outside the scope of the book, no references to good publications were made on how to approach this subject.

Further, as a clinical therapist, I do have issues when we attempt to generalize diagnoses as it adds to the stigma. While the book was faithful to a clinical interpretation in a counseling setting, the conversation of narcissism was used so often outside the context of the diagnosis but with clinical implications that I worry we are going to go around calling pastors narcissists, which helps no one. A very easy solution is to talk about symptoms of narcissism. Of course, this comes for a counselor that does not like to have clients be labeled as a narcissist, addict, or crazy.

I give this book a 4.5 out of 5 and recommend it for any pastor or Christian counselor that wants to see Christians grow deeper in their relationships with not only God but their community.

If you did not know, we have a whole YouTube channel that we have quietly been playing around with as well as using for several of our national and international Christian mental health conferences we have been playing around with. Would you give us two seconds and go subscribe? For those who do, you’ll get to see videos on there before they go live on our website.

The conversation about stigma with mental health in the Church is not a new one. So we take a few minutes to talk about an important question. Why are Christians so adverse to talking about mental health? We’d love to hear your thoughts about this in the comments below or on the YouTube page.

This year has been one of interesting twists and turns as we have found more and more readers coming to our website. Many have sought out how to do mental health ministry better, some Christian counselors how to incorporate their faith more, and a lot of churches wanting suicide prevention or how to have a counselor join or partner with their staff. But by far the biggest content sought out on our website this year was one of healing, self-care, and how to just find rest in God. You’ll see this in the top posts below.

The top searches to finding our website via Google this year alone are:

• “christian suicide hotline”
• “abide app reviews”
• “godly marriage”
• “pastor burnout 2021”
• “christian anger management”

1. 2021 Pastoral Mental Health Report

The most viewed article our review of the Faithlife 2021 Pastoral Mental Health Report and what this means for pastors across the country with regards to mental health. The article did not make any specific interpretation of the results, but we did and it is not doom and gloom but not positive either.

2. Difference Between Licensed and Biblical Counselors

We’ve seen many clients and counselors struggle with the difference between these two types of counselors and what is best for them. We have our own biases that we tried to leave out of the article. And the next article on this list actually inspired us to go ahead and write this because of their own bad interaction with a Christian counselor.

3. I Love Jesus, But I Want To Die [Book Review]

This book was one of the best of the year for us to read and while I am normally not a fan of autobiography style books within the Christian mental health scene, this one his many key points about negative experiences and what true clinical mental health experiences can and should be like, even with a Christian-integration.

4. Pray.com App

We receive a lot of requests to review books, services, apps, and other things which leaves very little time to actually focus on any one, so we have to say no a lot. Pray.com was different in how they asked by giving us full access to their platform and if we thought it was compelling enough, would love a review. And the content was really good so we did it.

5. Disability and the Church [Book Review]

Let me first say that if you are not following Lamar Hardwick on Instagram, you should be. His heart for being a pastor comes out and he puts in his advocacy within his posts. He is also going through cancer treatments and in the midst of it, showering Christians with hope and strength to keep battling on. This book is honestly a testament to Lamar’s life and something we definitely want to support.

6. Clergy Appreciation Day and Month

I actually accidently came upon this about a month out from the day and having almost a decade of previous ministry experience, knew this is something that could help reward pastors and so wanted to make sure to share it. Pastors tend to not get much praise, have humility to not ask for it, and many times lack the reward of their service. Most pastors don’t do it for the praise, but it can be a real motivation boost when a congregation member or community member comes up and says thank you.

7. Rest For The Weary

This is one of those articles that came out of interactions with our social media community, something we hope to do more of in 2022. People are tired, exhausted, and honestly, burnt out. We need to do more of self-care to rest in God and build resiliency not only to do good stuff today, but to be in ministry for years to come. More on this next month.

8. What To Do On A Sabbatical

Just as with the previous item on this list, pastors have taken to this article to find how to best take a sabbatical during their time in ministry. Honestly, part of the process is to convince their leadership it is okay to take, something we hope to tackle in a future article.

9. REBOOT – Christian Trauma Recovery

Having worked within youth ministry as a full-time staff with military teens for many years, this ministry hit personally for me. Even better, I was first introduced to it at my own church and want to absolutely support it however I can, so highlighting it on this website was a joy for me.

10. Even Leaders Struggle with Addiction

While it is sad that pastors struggle with their own addiction, it’s even more concerning how church governing bodies respond to pastors heartlessly and, in many instances, with contempt. People are fallen and pastors will mess up from time to time. This isn’t to justify their actions. But a body of people that respond poorly is not a mistake, but sin within a group setting and must be addressed. This was our hope to normalize and shine some light into this problem.

What articles did you like from the year and what do you want to see written in the future?

New Years is coming up and this is the time that people are looking to make their New Year’s Resolutions so we wanted to help. This isn’t our first attempt to help with improving your resolutions nor mental health over the holidays, especially with COVID.

So what if I told you a great option for your New Year’s Resolution is to say no. Let me be clear, I’m not saying don’t make a New Year’s Resolution, though I am of the mind to change your life when it is needed, not at a calendar year change. Instead, add boundaries by starting to say no more. Let me explain.

[Read more…] about New Year’s Resolution Of Saying No

This year, our church is utilizing the curriculum from GriefShare called Surviving the Holidays to help people this Christmas and New Years.

Our Surviving the Holidays seminar is especially for people who are grieving a loved one’s death. You’ll learn:

• How to deal with the many emotions you’ll face during the holidays
• What to do about traditions and other coming changes
• Helpful tips for surviving social events
• How to discover hope for your future

If you want to see if their is a Surviving the Holidays presentation in your area, visit their website here and enter your zipcode for the United States to find the local church.

GriefShare is a support group that help people cope with grief. GriefShare is a network of 15,000 plus churches worldwide equipped to offer grief support groups. You will find it to be a warm, caring environment and will come to see your group as an “oasis” on your long journey through grief.  It’s something our church values and you may want to look into joining too.

At the beginning of the year, we shared the beginning of a series by Hope Made Strong called Keys to Resilience. Recently they released another video that highlights one specific key in self-care, noting Scripture, research, and why self-care is not selfish. I check out this video and be ready for something we want to release very soon that talks about this very topic.

Last month, Christianity Today (CT) wrote an article for their print magazine titled “Empty Pews Are an American Public Health Crisis.” The concern it expresses is that many Christians have been vocal about “religious freedoms” that prevent them from getting vaccines or covering their faces with masks and so are to be exempt from mandates, yet this has led to many within this group to leave the church when churches require masks as well as many not in the “religious freedoms” groups to leave when churches do not follow local guidelines or people become more than vocal about their beliefs.

The authors then make an interesting statement within the article that “Religious participation strongly promotes health and wellness,” using a research article from JAMA Psychiatry titled “Religious Service Attendance and Deaths Related to Drugs, Alcohol, and Suicide Among US Health Care Professionals.” The research article, which CT does note, cites that 29% of medical workers who say they attend religious services frequently are less likely to become depressed, 50% less like to divorce, and 500% less like to commit suicide than those who never attended. But then CT starts to make comments that the article did not say, like Christians have “far fewer “deaths of despair”—deaths by suicide, drug overdose, or alcohol.” They even reference 12 other articles that address some mental health research to support their finds.

Their claim is “that religious service attendance specifically, rather than private practices or self-assessed religiosity or spirituality, most powerfully predicts health.” In essence, just showing up to church will magically heal your mental health or substance misuse. Am I taking their claims and stretching it a little? Yes. But that’s the point, so are they. Unfortunately they are making a complete guess as a correlation and selling it as fact (or causation).

My friend over at KeyMinistry, Dr. Stephen Grcevich, gave some great insight on this article as well that also note concerns with these associations:

One assumption in much of the research on the mental health benefits of church is that vulnerability to mental illness is equal among church attenders and non-attenders. What if that’s not the case? What if there’s something about church that leads to an overrepresentation of the “mentally healthy” compared to the general population? What if church is less accessible to individuals and families with a greater vulnerability to mental illness because the ability to engage in church activities self-selects individuals lacking the functional impairment seen in common mental health conditions.

Is it possible that Christians who are medical or mental health workers fair better than their counterpart? We see this possibility in one study, but that does not make it a fact. Nor can we then easily blend that over to all Christians.

In fact, that we have organizations like KeyMinistry or Church And Mental Health trying to bring the Church into a conversation with mental health professionals, hitting numerous barriers in so many ways from within the Church, and churches regularly asking “how do we do this, no one else is doing this” should suggest that the Church may not be as open armed to mental wellness as CT offers.

It is my experience that Christian faith, a true relationship with Jesus does in the long run improve mental health. But I do not have a mental illness and I do not believe just being in a church building to hear about the Bible magically fixes everything. I have a guess that a devoted Christian who prays, seeks service in God’s name, is a good steward of not only their finances but of relationships, evangelizes, and reads Scripture will have an improvement with mental health. This includes going to Church faithfully, but it is my belief that this is a piece of the puzzle. Many ethics boards also say suggest this, even secular ones who say spirituality is important and should be part of the counseling process. But we need to be careful that because of COVID mandates and Christians leave the church, that everyone’s mental health is definitely going to get worse.

In fact, I remember how because of the hardships of Paul that the Gospel was furthered, not because attendance was high. Because of true persecution in the Middle East, Christianity spread throughout the world. And when Jesus showed up, it was not always happiness and peace, yet it was good. Maybe we need to look to see if the Church is furthering the mission of Christ to all people and my hope is that we can do more, better for those who struggle with mental illness and substance misuse, just as Jesus is recorded for seeking out not those who are well, but those who are hurting and broken.

This is a call to my Christian brothers and sisters, understand what is actually being said. And publishers, we really need to do better with what we publish.